Petition Tag - safety

March 26, 2006

This is a petition to have a fence put up around the school yard of West Hurst Elementary.

I have been working on this for over 2 years ever since my daughter was grabbed around the neck while under the supervision of the West Hurst Elementary Staff.

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March 14, 2006

How many of you know someone who has lost a baby or child in a vehicle accident because they were not buckled up in a car seat or with a safety belt? How many people do you know that allow their kids to stand in the car?

How many of you have SEEN what it looks like when a child has gone through a windscreen, if you have - you know you never want to ever again! Let's give children the right to live a whole life..

People have got so accustomed to the luxury of driving their (safe) cars, that they have become less aware of their own safety by driving continuously faster & more recklessly. They might be able to afford a speeding or reckless driving fines but what none of us can afford is the huge loss of childrens' lives which have occurred over many years. Children are allowed to stand on the back seat (sometimes even on the front seat!), they are not harnassed in in any way - should the driver have to apply brakes - which happens all the times - the child will either go through the windscreen & be killed or be very seriously injured / killed in the vehicle itself.

Please read this and forward it on, YOU could save a child's life TODAY!

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On July 13, 2003, at 10:34 p.m., Palo
Alto Police Department (PAPD) rookie
Craig Lee drove his police car up to
59-year-old Albert Hopkins, who was
sitting in his parked car on Oxford
Avenue near the intersection of the El
Camino Real in Palo Alto. Lee asked
Mr. Hopkins for identification. Mr.
Hopkins did not initially give his
name, but later confirmed his identity
and his Palo Alto address.

When PAPD rookie Michael Kan stopped
his police car nearby, Lee spoke to
Kan. Kan walked over and ordered Mr.
Hopkins out of his car, and tried to
pull him out. Kan and Lee repeatedly
hit Mr. Hopkins with their batons,
while Mr. Hopkins tried to ward off
blows. Kan and Lee also doused him
extensively with pepper spray. Mr.
Hopkins was overcome, temporarily
blinded, handcuffed, and transported
to the hospital where he was treated
for body injuries, and a swelling near
his eye.

PAPD launched an immediate
investigation, which culminated in Kan
and Lee being charged with felony
assault and misdemeanor battery by a
Peace Officer. During the criminal
trial, all of the senior officers
that arrived on the scene that night
testified that they were concerned
that Kan and Lee could not provide a
reason for arresting Mr. Hopkins, and
so there seemed to be no justification
for use of force.

Presented with a strong case against
the two rookies, 8 jurors were certain
Kan and Lee were guilty: a 2-1 margin
favoring conviction. Despite all this,
Kan and Lee are being returned to
their jobs (after a plea deal let them
off with a mere $250 fine), and we are
told: "it's time to put it to rest and
move on".

We say there can be no rest until our
leaders realize it's time for Kan and
Lee to move on.

This petition arises not from malice
but the desire to safeguard the
community, as we strongly believe:

1. They are not fit for the job. As a
result of their beating of Albert
Hopkins on July 13 2003, and despite
the shocking deal that drastically
reduced the charges, the fact remains
that Officers Kan and Lee each pleaded
'no contest' to a criminal charge of
an act of illegal public violence
while on duty.

Yet, we have not seen Officers Kan and
Lee publicly take responsibility for
their misconduct. Instead, their court
testimony blamed the victim of their
criminal violence - who was not
arrested for any crime - while
belittling the response of their
supervisors that night. Does this
behavior reflect the discipline and
respect for the law that is
fundamentally required of law
enforcement officers? Or does it
indicate a profound employment
mismatch - that cannot be overcome
with any amount of retraining?

2. They cannot serve the interests of
the Palo Alto community. As reflected
in our budget, the safety of the
community is Palo Alto's highest
priority. As the locus of Silicon
Valley and home of Stanford
University, Palo Alto's community
includes guests welcomed from around
the world, that expect and are
entitled to the universal human right
and Constitutional protection) of
freedom from arbitrary arrest or
detention and unreasonable use of
force.

Given its profound authority, our
police force must not include those
who trample the rights of those they
serve, while rejecting the good
judgment of those they serve under.

3. Continuing their employment poses
unacceptable risks. Studies on police
misconduct, such as the Christopher
Commission report (an examination of
LAPD four months after the King
beating), have found that the heart of
the problem is failure to act upon the
few officers using excessive force.
Those officers frequently then go on
to become repeat offenders, who are
responsible for many of the cases that
cost the city in civil suits.

Palo Alto has already paid a $250,000
settlement for Kan and Lee's use of
force. How much would a jury penalize
the city in the next claim that may
result from their use of force, given
that the city was aware of the risk
and chose to ignore it? With budget
revenue rapidly shrinking, how are
such expenses justified?

Therefore, we call on the City Manager
to immediately take this step toward
freeing Palo Alto from the risks and
stigma of brutal injustice that we
believe Officers Kan and Lee's tenure
here has brought us, and begin
restoring Palo Alto as a community
united in its concern for public
safety and human rights.

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We the residents of Green Acres oppose the development of Thornton Lake Estates whose intention is to utilize our residential street as an outlet to Springhill Road.

Our opposition is clearly based on and outlined in the Approval Standards used by the Albany City Planning Commission which specifically states as follows:

CONDITIONAL USE (ADC 2.250)
(3) The transportation system is capable of supporting the proposed use in addition to the existing uses in the area. Evaluation factors include street capacity and level of service, on-street parking impacts, access requirements, neighborhood impacts and pedestrian safety.

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July 12, 2005: Residents oppose the addition of a proposed two-story parking structure at a neighboring car dealership.

Residents request that Santa Monica City Council approve speed bumps on 13th Street due to execssive speed by mechanics and potential buyers speeding beyond the 30 mph limit.

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The current overgrowth of the Robbers Roost Golf Course is creating a health problem for the surrounding communities. Snakes, foxes, otters and mosquitos have been recently spotted and are a danger to the homeowners and their pets.

We request the owners of the property to mow it on a regular basis or the city mow it and bill the owners. We are all tax paying citizens and feel that our safety must be a concern for the local government and the entire community.

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WHAT'S WRONG WITH H.R. 1528?

Among other things, it:

- Makes the federal sentencing guidelines a system of mandatory minimum sentences through a "Booker-fix" provision.
- Creates new mandatory minimums that further erode judicial discretion.
- Eliminates the safety valve for low-level drug offenders.
- Makes virtually every drug crime committed in urban areas subject to "drug free zone" penalties that carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.
- Punishes defendants for the "relevant conduct" of co-conspirators that occurred BEFORE the defendant joined the conspiracy.

As written, H.R. 1528 would:

- Effectively make the federal sentencing guidelines a system of mandatory minimum sentences through a "Booker-fix" provision. This provision forbids judges from departing below the guideline sentence in all but a few cases.

- Make the sale of any quantity of any controlled substance (including anything greater than five grams of marijuana) by a person older than 21 to a person younger than 18 subject to a ten-year federal mandatory minimum sentence.

-Create a new three-year mandatory minimum for parents who witness or learn about drug trafficking activities, targeting or even near their children, if they do not report it to law enforcement authorities within 24 hours and do not provide full assistance investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting the offender.

-Create a new 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for any parent committing a drug trafficking crime in or near the presence of their minor child.

- Mandate life in prison for persons 21 years or older convicted a second time of distributing drugs to a person under 18 or convicted a first time after a felony drug conviction has become final.

- Increase to five years the federal mandatory minimum sentence for the sale of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, college, public library, drug treatment facility (or any place where drug treatment, including classes, are held), or private or public daycare facilities - in short, almost anywhere in cities across the U.S.

- Eliminate the federal "safety valve," granting it only when the government certifies that the defendant pled guilty to the most serious readily provable offense (the one that carries the longest sentence), and has "done everything possible to assist substantially in the investigation and prosecution of another person," and would prohibit the federal "safety-valve" in cases where drugs were distributed or possessed near a person under 18, where the defendant delayed his or her efforts to provide substantial assistance to the government, or provided false, misleading or incomplete information.

For these reasons, FAMM opposes H.R. 1528.

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The primary purpose of the proposed wall at the 16th Avenue interface with the Rosedale community is to provide necessary noise attenuation for the residents who live beside the street, the 6-lane east-west trucking route through Calgary.

It should perform to this standard. Any break in the continuity of the wall is a weak point for noise attenuation.

The City of Calgary tender drawings for the Rosedale interface, on view at the City construction office at 1635 7th St NW, show the wall with breaks, about 15 - 20 ft long, at the end of every street block where there is a remnant lot in the community. The lot is to be redeveloped with an infill house and an alley link. The infill house is intended to function as the continuation of the noise attenuation, across the alley from the break in the wall.

The reason given by the City and its representatives, for providing these breaks, is that it will relieve the visual monotony of a continuous wall. This reason is doubtful given that wall is being designed with such a high level of detail and variation, and with extensive landscaping on the 16th Avenue side.

-The breaks are a weak point in the wall that will allow traffic noise to bleed into the neighbourhood.

-The breaks are a safety hazard. There will be no real barrier to absorb a vehicle from veering off of 16th avenue into the neighbourhood.

-The breaks create confusion on a pedestrian scale. Pedestrians will walk down alleys rather than neighbourhood streets.

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Kevin Young has been the core drummer of local hxc band my dying wish, after a year of struggling my dying wish has started to make an impact on the hxc world.

Because of Kevin's success in my dying wish another band (name not listed for safety reasons) is trying to take kevin for their own.

Keep my dying wish alive sign this petition, to let kevin know we care.

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The Larimer County Parks and Lands department is planning to build a campground at the north end of Horsetooth Reservoir near Bellvue, Colorado. The campground threatens the safety of people, wildlife and native wetlands.

The Parks department's sole concern is revenue generation. Please help us stop this proposal in its infancy.

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The residents of Kedron Hills would like to see a 4-way stop sign at the intersection of Astoria Lane, Euclid Court and Creston Hill. This would slow down speeders and help insure the safety of our kids.

This intersection is one of the busiest school bus stops in the neighborhood and installing two more stop signs on Astoria would greatly deminish the probablity of accidents and or fatalities invloving our children.

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In 1946 a promise was made by Congress to the coal miners, as a direct result of the sweat and blood of generations of coal miners whose toil carried this Nation through war and peace, through the Industrial and the Technological Revolutions.

A promise of cradle to grave health care that manifested itself into the 1992 Coal Act. And a promise made in 1977 to coalfield citizens and communities as a result of the ravages of past abuses, and on the souls of the 118 individuals who perished in 1972 at Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia.

A promise to reclaim their devastated landscapes, to return their land to productive uses, and to protect their health and safety that is part and parcel of the landmark Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program has been a success. Unlike the Superfund, this program has a track record of real, on-the-ground progress in restoring lands and eliminating health and safety threats. And since 1992, through the transfer of just the interest which accrues to the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to the Combined Benefit Fund, it has provided health care for tens of thousands of elderly retired coal miners whose former employers can no longer be identified.

The nexus is there. The welfare of abandoned miners and of reclaiming abandoned mines, you see, go hand in hand. To date, the promise has been kept.

Yet, in June of 2005 the fees assessed on the coal industry which finances this effort expire.

If legislation is passed it will keep the promise to some 50,000 retired coal miners that their health care will continue uninterrupted.

Recently the passage of such legislation has shown dire importance, especially in the states of Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois where On Aug. 31, 2004 in Lexington, KY, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Howard finalized the decision allowing Horizon Natural Resources to file bankruptcy, thus voiding union contracts providing health care coverage for nearly 3,000 employees, including 2,300 retirees -- many of whom suffer from black lung as a result of their working years at Horizon. For many of these miners their only hope for health care coverage will be the passage of such legislation.

I urge you and your constituents to move promptly and vote for the passage legislation that would KEEP THE PROMISE TO THE COAL MINERS and to fully understand that thousands of coal miners and retirees futures are hanging in the balance of your decision.

Coal miners and their families, along with countless others who support those miners, will use this issue to evaluate your commitment to working families in America. I await your prompt response.

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This petition has been designed to require Public Safety and local law enforcement to end reports of law violations to local media.

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My grandson is a kindergardener. He gets picked up on the schoolbus 2 doors down and gets dropped off 3 BLOCKS away. There are 5 little ones that have to walk 2-3 blocks home. There are No sidewalks and curvey streets with blind spots. There are hills on one side,the other side the houses go down a hill. Nowhere for children to walk but in the street.

We have contacted the bus garage, they say this is the way it is. What about our childrens/grandchildrens SAFETY? The bus route is only 20 min long. There is no reason these children can not be dropped off where they are picked up.

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As a resident in Southern California, sandles have been a part of every day life since I was a young child and now they are trying to take that away. Sandles are a convenient way for comfortablity and style. They allow our feet to "breathe" and in several other ways keep us comfortable. But, now because of our schools new renovations, our administration feels the need to take away that comfortability for safety.

Safety is a big issue in society today and from our prinicipals point of view, she wants to make her students as safe as they can be, this is understandable. However, if she wants us to be safe, cut down the fighting or lock our campus up, but do not take away the students personal expression and comfortability. It is understood that with the construction taking place on our campus, sandles may be a safety hazard. But, we are not walking around over open trenches or boxes of nails, all the dangerous places are blocked off by fences or caution tape. Another problem the principal sees with sandles are the opened toes, causing toes to be stepped on or stubbed. But, people see these problems before they leave the house wearing sandles, they know of the risks they are taking.

Football players are constantly breaking bones, spraining ankles, or physically injuring theirselves in other ways but, do we see the principal taking away their ability to tackle and play the sport they love? No, we do not, so why should the students of Kennedy High school have to stop wearing the shoes they feel comfortable in, due to a few minor injuries? We allow athletes to play the sports they play with the knowledge that they may be hurt, but we do not allow students to wear sandles because of a safety issue, it is very hypocritical.

The fact of the matter is that we as people are going to get hurt no matter what way or where, it is going to happen, its just a factor of life. But, do we see kids walking around with helmets and safety pads everywhere they go? No, because we cannot constantly be afraid of being injured or unsafe, we have to live life and roll with the punches.

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Fellow ballas -

You may not be aware of it, but busybodies from the AMA, certain manufacturers who find their market share threatened by the latest advances, and tournament league representatives (traditionally phobic of change) have banded together to manipulate the ASTM to reject full-auto and multi-mode paintball markers from the governing safety specification, thereby effectively banning them. Very shortly you will not be able to purchase or even use fully-automatic and multi-mode markers unless they are stopped.

Supposedly this is for safety, but we all know this flies in the face of well known statistics. Take a gander at the attached forwarded article.

Some people prefer semi-only play. Fine (some people prefer pumps). But some of us like the advanced new markers. Regardless of your preference, do you really want these guys deciding for you what equipment you should and should not be allowed to use without any basis in fact?

Signing this petition to re-instate full-auto and multi-mode markers to the standard is a good start to telling these meddlers to go home, but please consider contacting the ASTM board directly to voice your disapproval of this lame action. Here's the link:

http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/CONTACT/headquar.htm?L+mystore+pvbe8085+1093428340


"To those who want to save the world from fully-automatic paintball guns:

There's a bridge crossing the San Francisco Bay. You may have heard of it. 1013 people have intentionally leapt to their deaths from this bridge since its opening 66 years ago. Proposed solution - build insurmountable barriers along both sides of the bridge. Hey, its only 4,200 feet long. Oh wait, there's just one small problem. It's stupid. Not to worry, though - history teaches us that someone in government (probably well connected in the construction business) won't be stopped by a detail like that. By the way, there really are advocates who expect to deface the Golden Gate Bridge with multi-million dollar suicide barriers. I'm serious. There are.

And, unbeknownst to most of the playing population, yes, some time ago members of the AMA sent a letter (and more recently sat on subcommittee F08.24, the ASTM group in charge of paintball related standards) which prompted the ASTM to reject fully-automatic and multi-mode (F/A & MM) markers in the latest revision of standard F2272 03 "Standard Specification for Paintball Markers (Limited Modes)". But has anyone any actual data that even suggests that (F/A & MM) markers are any less safe than semi's? The answer is no, we are simply supposed to bow to their medical authority…but, what exactly in a medical degree constitutes any expertise at all on the safety of any aspect of paintball, anyway? Apparently AMA ophthalmologists have discovered that a paintball has an excellent chance of doing serious damage if it should strike a naked eye. Think so? Lucky we have these guys on the job. Anyway, since no one in the AMA can be troubled to do any homework before meddling in ASTM standards, just for the record here are some statistics this author was able to find in a couple hours of net surfing:

Only about 4% of all blindings in the United States are the result of injury of any kind, the large remainder primarily resulting from disease. About 2.4 million eye injuries do occur each year, and according to the U.S. Eye Injury Registry, almost half (43%) of these occur within the home, with another third at work, while only 4% of all injuries are sports related (about 100,000 per year). Regarding injuries specific to paintball, in a web-based summary of a recently completed comprehensive sports participation study, SGMA INTERNATIONAL (www.sgma.com) reports:

'While membership in the Extreme Sports category implies a whiff of danger, only paintball is handicapped by a huge injury taboo, one that exists in the public mind, but not in the statistics. The industry has long maintained that the rare (but highly publicized) eye injury almost always occurs in an unsupervised, unprotected, often illegal setting; and that paintball is a very safe activity, a claim substantiated by the current research, as the sport reflected only 0.2 injuries per 1,000 exposures, the lowest injury rate of any Extreme Sport. Put another way, the average player will suffer a paintball injury about once every 500 years.'

The above statistic encompasses all types of paintball injuries, most of which are sprains, broken bones, etc. The Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that 2000 paintball-related eye injuries were treated in emergency rooms from 1997 through 1999. Normalizing by the playing population at that time, one may estimate that annually just a little over 1 in 10,000 players received an eye injury. Of course, this begs the question "How severe is the average paintball-related eye injury?" Naturally, this varies, and it is difficult to find data published in a form allowing a reasonable statistical estimate. (Most medical studies hand pick the cases evaluated, so they do not represent a random sample.) This author was able to find one survey, however, of the eleven cases presented to the University of Iowa Hospital between 1994 and 1999 which provides a small but unbiased sampling that provides a rough basis of estimate. Nine of these cases recovered 20/30 or better vision, while only two recovered 20/200 or less. (Incidentally, 20/200 is about 2.2 diopters - many people with vision in this range wear glasses only for driving.) This statistic should not be interpreted to downplay the potential severity of damage inflicted by a paintball striking the eye, but rather probably is more sensibly interpreted as an indication that medical technology is up to the task. This is a limited statistical sample, but suggests that only about 20% of all paintball eye injuries serious enough to seek medical attention result in significant permanent visual impairment and one may combine these statistics to estimate the chances of significant permanent visual impairment to a paintball player are on the order of 1 in 50,000 per year. To put this into perspective, the average paintball player is 50% more likely to be killed by a drunk driver and three times more likely to be the victim of murder in a given year than have significantly impaired vision resulting from a paintball accident in the U.S.

Now, the demagogues of the world have made a great issue lately of the idea of a potential "double blindness", but let's again take a quick look at some facts (always a good idea before giving advice, n'est pas?) We're talking about something that this author was unable to find any evidence to have actually ever occurred. Not that it's impossible, but the fact that it apparently hasn't actually happened does allow a probability estimate. Let's see - the typical argument goes that since marker firing rates are increasing, the chances of a double blindness must also be increasing. Fine, since F/A & MM markers have only been around for a few years, we'll just consider recent history, and estimate roughly 2700 injuries in the last three years (by scaling the 1997-99 per capita injury rate by the increase in the playing population). Given no reported double eye injuries, this allows us to statistically estimate with 99.99% confidence that in a single paintball-related ocular trauma incident, the odds of both eyes receiving injury are less than 0.34%. Putting it all together, the average paintball player will happen upon an accident rendering significant permanent vision impairment to both eyes once every 86 million years. (He or she is 2500 times more likely to be killed by a drunk driver than to receive a significant double eye injury.)

Still not satisfied with those odds? Keep your mask on. Whereas about 10% of all eye injuries are not preventable with reasonable protective equipment, 100% of all paintball-related eye injuries are. Not one eye has ever been injured while protected by an ASTM certified paintball mask. Not from any kind of marker. Never. Even when masks have cracked in service due to manufacturing defects (resulting in product recalls by manufacturers who have been outstandingly proactive with respect to safety), none has ever failed to protect the wearer.

Get the point? Maybe the term "double blindness" would better be used to refer to the blind leading the blind (something that seems to happen much more often than paintball accidents). Of course, those involved are only a tiny group of kneejerk meddlers within the AMA, but I am embarrassed for them. And exactly who are the AMA? Of course, they claim to be the voice of doctors in the United States, but a very official sounding acronym doesn't make that true. One doctor I interviewed described a self-appointed organization of M.D.'s turned politician, champions of the HMO, who solicit high dues paying membership by furthering the financial interests of doctors over the needs of their patients. Apparently most doctors agree, as 7 out of 10, to their credit, abstain from membership. So, if most doctors reject the AMA, why is the ASTM so easily influenced by their propaganda in the face of so many readily available facts and reports by both medical and sports organizations?

Moving along, let's list the common fallacies (starting with and re-iterating safety for completeness) which comprise the ongoing "debate" on F/A & MM markers:

Fallacy #1. Fully automatic and multi-mode markers are less safe than semi's.

Nonsense. As illustrated above the data illustrates quite the contrary. People (and the ASTM, insurance companies, etc.) are making rules for all of us, shouldn't there be a little more behind it than ego posturing, superstition, and paranoia.

Fallacy #2. F/A & MM markers will lead to more overshooting.

F/A& MM markers are typically design limited to shoot at lower rates of fire than the average person can achieve with an electro-triggered semi. What does it matter if the marker is full-auto or semi? If it's capable of 15 shots/second, who cares if the operator's finger is twitching or not? Max rate of fire rules may be a good idea, but fully-automatic and multi-mode markers make it easier, not harder to regulate firing rate…and I quote a very insightful review of an electro by one contributor to pbreview.com identifying himself as "DrEvil" (hope that's a pseudonym): "As far as the different firing modes go, if you can shoot fast, you might as well leave the gun on semi-auto since the full-auto mode is only 8-12 bps."

Fallacy #3.F/A & MM markers will take over the game.

Again, F/A & MM markers shoot no faster than good semis, and anyway, are pumps forced to play against semi's in tournaments? Shouldn't it be obvious that different hardware can be isolated to different forums (for instance, stock markers have their own competition class)? I haven't heard anyone suggest that players who want to play semi-only should be obligated to take on full-auto and multi-mode employing opponents. But just because some people don't want to play with the more advanced technology, isn't it a little mean spirited that they should try to dictate that no one gets to?

Fallacy #4. F/A & MM markers encourage "spray and pray" tactics.

Again, F/A & MM markers shoot no faster than good semis (anyone picking up a theme). The only way in which full-auto and multi-modes encourage spraying is that holding down the trigger does deliver kind of a thrill whereas having to work a trigger as fast as you can is a little annoying. But, since when is a little fun bad? Some people say that spray and pray is what we have now; others disagree. Rulemakers of tournaments and paintball fields should sit down and really think about what they are trying to say, and then say that. If we don't want guys doing the spray and pray thing (which most people don't, including people who like the newer technologies), the most direct approach is ammo limits per game (and, of course, there are tournament categories now with 200 rnd limits), and that takes care of it. But there's nothing wrong with those who want to carry 1000+ rnds onto the field, it's just a different game. Play the game you want; let others play the game they want.

Fallacy #5. F/A & MM markers should be eliminated because they are illegal in some other countries.

Most sports (and even games such as Scrabble) have had to adopt different rules for national vs. international events. Foreign players can still come here and compete in semi-auto events, and vice versa. Also, keep in mind that despite all efforts to the contrary, the United States is unique in all the world in that its government is based on freedom. Do you really want to accept rules from every guy in the world who gets to wear a funny hat?

Fallacy #6. FF/A & MM markers take skill out of the game.

First off, the core skills of the game are teamwork, strategy, and accuracy. Sure it takes skill to pull a trigger fast, but making that an axis of competition seems kind of silly and arbitrary to this author. At paintball's inception, rate of fire was a non-issue, because the markers were all single shot per load. Then someone invented a bolt action, then a pump, then semi-auto. All of these advancements proceeded under the understanding that a higher rate of fire improved one's capability compared to the next guy. And every time these new technologies were introduced, people complained that something was lost from the game (and every time they tried to make them illegal). But nothing was ever lost. People can still play the pump game; they can still play the semi game; and letting people play the full-auto game won't change that. Would we all want to be running around with those old Nelsplats that you practically had to disassemble to re-load? There are people who think yes, and there's nothing stopping them. The advent of full-auto and multi-mode markers can actually decrease our fixation on rate of fire, since they can simply be set to a regulation max rate of fire (be that 8 or 15 balls per second). Anyone can pick one of these up and get exactly the same performance. As long as everyone has access to comparable equipment (and that's true now more than ever because inexpensive sear trippers give you nearly the performance of a Timmy at very low cost), the only remaining factors are teamwork, strategy, and accuracy.

But this is just stating the obvious. In short, wouldn't we be better off focusing on keeping the sport safe with the new advancements (which are fun, at least for many), rather than once again trying to artificially stem the tide of progress? There is a crusade against personal responsibility in our country, and all this is just one more brick in the wall.

The bridge? Think. Those who choose the bridge do so for style and/or statement. If people so inclined can't get to the side of the bridge, they'll just find a tall building (maybe we should make those illegal?). This author suggests a diving board near the center. That way, to do it right, people will feel they have to use the board, and will end up having to think things over for at least the 20 minutes it takes to walk out to it. In such a preoccupied state, they may even walk out on the wrong side, and have to go all the way back around. With any luck, 20-40 extra minutes of reflection will change their mind.

Please feel welcome to reproduce and distribute this article freely,

R.S."

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The Deerfield Subdivision entrance at Hickory Ridge Road and Bonnie Valley does not currently have a street light, a lamp post or any type of illumination. This petition's purpose is to gather interest and signatures of the homeowners effected and present our concerns that this absence of light at our entrance is a safety hazard.

This hazard is intensified by the constant speeding along Hickory Ridge Road, our concealed entrance due to hills and valleys adjacent to Bonnie Valley in both directions and the presence of pedistrians, children playing and pet walking.

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Advisor slams bike skills
'Improving motorcyclists skills merely means they kill themselves in a more skilled way,' according to one of the Government's top advisors on
transport. And when MCN contacted Robert Gifford to challenge him he called motorcycles: "Hopelessly
dangerous." Gifford, director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said he could prove
that improving skills makes people more
dangerous. His example? "Cars with ABS are involved in as many accidents as cars that aren't." When MCN suggested ABS isn't so much a skill as a mechanical operation he put the phone
down on us.

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Pedestrian crossings at 15th Street 142nd Avenue, and 22nd Street and 138th Avenue.

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The Coatesville Area School District decided to take away "highway safety" as a class starting the school year of 2004-2005. If you would like to take Highway Safety - Drivers Ed. - as a class to reduce your insurance or to fulfill your Wellness & Fitness Elective... PLEASE sign this.

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We the undersigned homeowners / residents of Crown Grant petition Hamlet Homes to install street lighting as per other streets in Crown Grant for safety concerns.

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The neighbors of North Star are concerned about the safety of our children, animals, and other neighbors who enjoy walking outdoors. If you are one of the neighbors who are concerned about the safety in our community, please take the time to sign this petition to install SPEED BUMPS along JUPITER RD.

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This petition is being written for the protection of our children in school from peers that are organizing physical attacks and mental cruelty. Our children have the right happy and healthly lives in school.

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REGARDING SPEEDERS ON HOYT STREET.

WE THE UNDERSIGNED ARE CONCERNED FOR THE SAFETY OF THE RESIDENTS, MOSTLY CHILDREN ON HOYT STREET. WE HAVE AT LEAST 20 SMALL CHILDREN AND HAVE A GROWING AMOUNT OF CARS AND LARGE TRUCKS COMING AND GOING. WE WOULD BE INTERESTED IN REDUCING THE SPEED LIMIT OR INSTALLING SPEED BUMPS.

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This is a petition to ban and put all Fire Safety multilevel marketing schemes related to FSI, Fire Secure, Inc., Fire Specialist, Inc., or Fire Safety Specialist, Inc.

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We are asking the developers of our neighborhood to include additional safety measures to better protect the residents of Timberland Place.

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Sure their intentions are innocent. You turn 16, you get a car, and you get a system. What good is a car to a teenager if it doesn't have a stereo system? When he said "girls dig loud music" Devon spoke for most of the guys in Southern Illinois, cars & music = girls. Safety wouldn't be a concern though, would it? After all, it is only a stereo.

Unfortunately this stereo typically comes with large speakers and an amplifier, neither of which are bolted down. At an average weight of 20 pounds, this is similar to a toddler roaming freely in the vehicle. Safety should be of primary concern when teenagers are involved. Their lacking experience behind the wheel combined with loud music and unrestrained stereo equipment create disastrous consequences in the event of a collision.

Devon would have survived his impact, but he never stood a chance against the large airborne amplifier coming from the rear of the car.
Devon has been a best friend of mine for quite a few years. Over the years we have spent a lot of time together joking and laughing and just being good friends. He always knew how to make me smile, and I could always get a laugh out of him from one of my jokes. I cherish the memories that I have of Devon. With your help we can ensure that other kids won't needlessly lose their life before it has really begun.

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We want the school bus to come down our road to pick up our children. It is a safety issue because the current bus stop is on a busy road and out of sight from parent's homes. There are several small children who ride this bus.

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We have concern about the fences, and gates in need of repairs at Waterford Middle School, particularly in the 5th and 6th grade classroom area. We are requesting the Waterford Unified School District, and or the City of Waterford to make the necessary repairs as soon as possible, to ensure the safety of our children.
Children are fighting, being pushed, climbing fences, and squeezing thru the fence.Teachers whom are opening the fences are trying to open the gate, but having difficulties passing thru all the children. Sometimes up 5-10 minutes after the bell has rung.

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We the residents of Cane Estate request the installation of street lights in this neighborhood in order to deter criminal activities and promote safety for the residents.

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